Emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) represent a critical and challenging time for teachers globally. To understand how Portuguese teachers interpreted their ERTL experiences of the first lockdown, we started by asking: What perspectives do teachers have about ERTL? Answering three open questions made available online between April and May of 2020, a sample of 305 preschool, basic, and secondary school teachers expressed their perspectives on (i) difficulties throughout ERTL; (ii) students’ constraints in participating in ERTL; (iii) the potential and benefits resulting from this exceptional period. Data were analyzed using content analysis. While Portuguese teachers perceived ERTL with concern, a majority also saw it as an opportunity. Workload, work conditions, and time management were the most frequently mentioned difficulties. Regarding students’ constraints, teachers emphasized participation, the role of parents, lack of contact, and autonomy. Despite the constraints and difficulties, teachers highlighted gains such as the development of digital competencies and the opportunity to transform teaching and learning. Only 18 teachers suggested there were no positive outcomes from this experience. Since this is an exploratory study, further studies are needed to triangulate the findings.

Over the past 15 years, learning in distance education universities has become more interactive, flexible, collaborative, and participative. Nevertheless, some accounts have highlighted the importance of developing more instrumental and standardized educational practices to answer the challenges of employability. In fact, the choice of skills that are important to learning communities and the labour market has been the subject of controversy because it involves heterogeneous motives among different groups.This paper compares the perceptions of employability skills in a sample of teachers from the Universidade Aberta and a sample of students who attend a local learning centre at this University. The research focused on the following dimensions: a) the most important employability skills, and b) the employability skills to be developed in online undergraduate degrees. To collect the required data, a questionnaire was prepared and applied to students and teachers, taking the theoretical model of Knight and Yorke (2006) as its main reference. In spite of the specificity of each group, the results revealed some similarities between students and teachers with regard to employability.The conclusions also highlighted the need to promote research on this matter in online education.Keywords: Online higher education; employment; qualifications; lifelong learning The main goal of the Bologna Process is to "create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) based on international cooperation and academic exchange that is attractive to European students and staff as well as to students and staff from other parts of the world". The European Higher Education Area must (a) facilitate the mobility of students, graduates and higher education staff; (b) prepare students for their future careers and for life as active citizens in democratic societies, and support their personal development; (c) offer broad access to high-quality higher education, based on democratic principles and academic freedom. (The official Bologna Process Web site, http://www.ehea.info/ ). The two frameworks point to different levels. The QF/EHEA comprises four levels that correspond to grades defined by the Bologna Process, whereas the EQF has eight levels, ranging from basic education to higher education, in which the last four correspond to the QF/EHEA (levels 5 to 8 The frameworks mentioned above play an important role in the design of higher education programs and their internal and external assessment. Therefore, it is important to understand how these frameworks have been adopted in distance and online universities. Organizations and New Skills A few years before the Bologna Process was implemented, the UK had already rethought the purpose of higher education taking into account training and employment goals.Previously, areas of knowledge (more or less theoretical and/or more or less technical)in the study programmes were considered to be less important than extracurricular attributes. According to Harvey, higher education must be able to i) establ...

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered profound social consequences, affecting all aspects of human activity, including education. The process of remote teaching that was implemented in response to this crisis is known as emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL). The present study focuses on Portuguese parents’ perspectives about this process. Data were gathered through an online questionnaire, answered by 203 parents of preschool, basic, and secondary education students (ages 3–18), focusing on self-perceived digital competence, satisfaction with ERTL, and pedagogical activities developed with their children. Parents were moderately satisfied with ERTL but expressed a marked increase in their workload, particularly those working from home. Parents of children in the second cycle of basic education (ages 10–12) were less satisfied with the process. A variety of activities was promoted, responding to different educational levels’ characteristics. Results show the importance of promoting parents’ digital competence and directing support policies, particularly to parents of younger children (ages 3–12), and raise concerns about equity.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to compare face-to-face versus online course delivery systems in the area of food consumption and to analyse the students' expectations and experiences. It aims to analyse the following dimensions: general expectations, learning organization and interactions in students' discourses. Design/methodology/approach -The methodology adopted is of interpretative nature using semi-structured qualitative interviews. An interview guide was designed taking into account the learning modalities (styles and strategies), materials and learning tools, teacher-student interaction and peer interaction dimensions. The students of both courses were interviewed in the second semester of the curricular year of the respective MSc degrees. Findings -This study has shown that face-to-face and online students are equally satisfied with their courses revealing the same confirmed general expectations. Comments for both course delivery systems are the need for more laboratory and practical classes. Results from this study also indicated that face-to-face and online educations are effective training food consumer sciences students suggesting, however, that both systems should evolve to blended-learning. Practical implications -Both course delivery systems (face-to-face and online) contributed to the competencies acquisition in Food Consumer Sciences. B-learning appears as the natural convergence of students needs. Originality/value -The online course results of the discourse analysis suggest the success developing a learning community pointing out the role of the online instructor and the course coordinator. The paper provided useful data and knowledge on which further research can be carried out.

This study evaluates the perceptions of teachers in charge of coordinating health education in schools: the School Health Coordinators (SHCs). It addresses the success and barriers of the development and implementation regarding the first year of healthy eating programmes in their schools. This research is based on 16 face-to-face semi-structured interviews with SHCs from Portuguese public schools offering from fifth to ninth grades. A thematic analysis was performed and themes were identified, taking into consideration similarities and differences among the participants' opinions. The results showed that the schools in this study often involved a set of separate healthy diet promotion activities with a low level of joint effort from all members of the school. Nevertheless, in Portugal, health education is based on the broad concept that school health promotion is compulsory for all schools. Two main barriers were identified in order to explain this divergence: structural and political idiosyncrasies among schools and the food environment inside and outside the schools. The results are discussed considering the wide range of factors influencing young people's eating behaviours and recommendations are made for the different agents interacting with them in order to promote appropriate eating habits.